Shloka 9

Udyoga-parva Adhyāya 3 — Sātyaki on Inner Disposition, Legitimacy, and Coercive Readiness

Devanagari script

वनवासाद्‌ विमुक्तस्तु प्राप्त: पैतामहं पदम्‌ । यद्ययं पापवित्तानि कामयेत युधिषछ्िर:

Transliteration

vanavāsād vimuktas tu prāptaḥ paitāmahaṁ padam | yady ayaṁ pāpavittāni kāmayeta yudhiṣṭhiraḥ ||

Translation

വനവാസത്തിൽ നിന്ന് വിമുക്തനായി യുധിഷ്ഠിരൻ പിതാമഹന്മാരുടെ സ്ഥാനമായ രാജാധികാരം പ്രാപിച്ചു. ഇനി അവൻ പാപമാർഗ്ഗത്തിൽ സമ്പാദിച്ച ധനം ആഗ്രഹിച്ചാൽ, അത് ധർമ്മത്തിൽ നിന്ന് വലിയ പതനമായിരിക്കും.

Word by Word

वनवासात्from the forest-dwelling (exile)

विमुक्तःfreed, released

तुbut/indeed

प्राप्तःhaving attained

पैतामहम्ancestral (of the grandsire)

पदम्position, status

यदिif

अयम्this (man)

पापवित्तानिsinful riches/ill-gotten wealth

कामयेतshould desire

युधिष्ठिरःYudhishthira

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Yudhiṣṭhira

forest-exile (vanavāsa)

ancestral station/office (paitāmaha pada)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Even when one has a rightful claim and has endured suffering for dharma, the desire for wealth obtained through wrongdoing undermines moral authority; legitimate rule must be grounded in righteous means, not merely inherited position.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana comments on Yudhiṣṭhira’s situation after the forest-exile: he has reached the status associated with his forefathers, but the verse raises a moral concern—what if he were to seek ‘sinful wealth,’ contradicting his dharmic identity.